9 December
The beans of happiness... A short exercise for more mindfulness and (re-)activation of positive feelings in your everyday life.
Once upon a time, there was a farmer who put a handful of beans in his left pants pocket every morning. Whenever he experienced something nice, something brought him joy or he felt a moment of happiness - something for which he was grateful - he took a bean from his left pants pocket and put it in his right one.
Before he went to bed in the evening, he looked at the beans in his right pants pocket. With each bean he took a moment to think back to the grateful experience. Then, falling asleep, he was content and happy - even on the days when he found only one bean in his right pants pocket.
What can we learn from the farmer?
Unfortunately, we forget to look at ourselves, our strengths, our abilities and the beautiful and positive things around us in our daily routines way to often because of the hectic and stress that surround us. To put it in a nutshell: We feel rushed, annoyed, exhausted and dissatisfied...
...but it does not have to stay like that!!!
Fill your everyday life with more consciously experienced positive moments with the help of this little exercise:
How it is done:
Put five coffee beans in your pocket in the morning. Consciously pay attention to positive moments or experiences today (e.g. a pleasant smell, an enjoyable coffee, a nice compliment or conversation...) or consciously create them for yourself (e.g. with the help of positive self-awareness, a benevolent look of encouragement to yourself or a reminder of everything you have done well).
Throughout the course of the day, one coffee bean goes into the other pocket for every nice experience.
(Hopefully, by the end of the day, all the coffee beans will have gone into the other pocket. 😉)
The second part of the exercise will take place at the end of the day:
Take each coffee bean out of your pocket one by one and think back to the situation associated with each bean.
Remember which pleasant feelings these situations have triggered in you...
What made you feel especially appreciated?
Which surroundings and persons were the reason for these pleasant feelings?
In this spirit:
Create a new daily routine for yourself, sharpen your focus, be mindful of the positive things, and enjoy the good feelings that come with it - they are good for you!
(c) Tanja Weier (Central Student Advisory Service)